For those of you committed to a training program or an exercise plan, you may be doing everything you can to ensure you get results. You are showing up to your sessions, giving it your best effort, eating right, drinking water, choosing whole foods, and getting plenty of rest. Things are progressing and you are feeling more energized, your clothes are fitting better, and you are finally enjoying those smoothies in the morning. You are in the groove and you couldn’t be happier…..and then a little injury pops up - your knee, your shoulder, a little twinge in your back perhaps. You think, it’s not a big deal and it doesn’t keep you from working hard, so you push through, proving your dedication.

A few months go by and the nagging injury is still there and probably (though you do not want to admit it), your injury is affecting your daily life. You can do certain things at home, it’s affecting your mood, and maybe even your sleep. Aaaaaagh!! All this effort and now I cannot even sleep well.

Well, I am here to tell you that if you slow down when you are exercising you will allow your body to move as it is intended to, repair recurring injuries, and limit the opportunity for new injuries to happen.

By slowing the pace of your movements down, you are allowing yourself time to think about technique vs repetition. When we make technique more important than the number of repetitions performed, we tend to slow down - allowing more control over the movement. This leads to stronger movements and less strain on all of your important joints. The joints that tend to cause you pain - ankles, knees, hips, low back, neck and shoulders are now stable, creating a safer movement.

Now, as you slow down and improve your technique, movements become more efficient, your body and mind start to remember quality and at this time you can start to increase your pace. However, you must always be in check with yourself - am I going at a pace that allows me to in control of my movement?

Check out this quick video on how you can slow your pace down to focus on technique with these foundation exercises.

​The key to keeping pain out of your exercise routine is to slow down, allow your body to time to learn, and focus on technique - not on repetition.

At Wilcox Wellness & Fitness, our trainers are incredibly skilled at keeping your form on point, keeping you from being injured. If you are looking for some guidance on achieving your goals through a focused, fun program free of injury, check out our KickStart Program here: www.wilcoxwellnessfitness.com/kickstart

This workout is full of acronyms. Just to give you a little cheat sheet, we'll break them down for you here.

AMRAP stands for As Many Reps As Possible. So every time you see AMRAP, just do as many repetition of that exercise as you can do.

EMOM stands for Every Minute On the Minute. So start the circuit on a minute marker and then however much time is left in that minute after you've completed your reps is your rest. Repeat the circuit at the beginning of the next minute marker.

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When it comes to working out, there is a fine line between working too hard and not hard enough to achieve amazing results. We work out too hard, we become tired, develop bad habits, and become injured - and injuries hold us back. When we do not workout hard enough we become disappointed and frustrated the progress is not what we hoped it would be. As your fitness level improves, this truly will be a moving target. Therefore, you want to be in tune with each and every workout to ensure you are making the most of your time and your effort! This truly will be a moving target.

As you are learning your body, you will want to tune into how you are feeling throughout your training sessions (workouts). Take the time to cue into what your body is telling you. The key to any successful training session is to put in a good effort so you get a little “uncomfortable” but leave your training session feeling great, not destroyed!

It takes a lot of discipline to push yourself the right way and knowing when to dial back the intensity to ensure proper technique. When you feel yourself getting tired you will compensate - it is at this crucial moment that you ask yourself - “Can I regroup and get my technique back on track or do I need a few seconds to rest?”. Making the right choice will prove to be more beneficial to your long term health and fitness goals.

When to Push, When to Rest

Another way to think about this dilemma is: If you do not need a rest… you’re not doing it right. In other words, you’ve got to get uncomfortable in order to make progress. This goes for anything we do in life. What’s exciting is by focusing on “when to push and when to rest” you will be accelerating the results you are working so hard for. You will be making more out of your time and effort and you will continue to learn about yourself and grow into a more fantastically fit and able person!! Just by focusing in your workout a little more. Exciting!!

At Wilcox Wellness & Fitness, our trainers are incredibly skilled at helping you determine the answer to the burning question - When to Push, When to Rest? If you are looking for some guidance on achieving your goals through a focused, fun program check out our KickStart Program here:

Music has an incredible ability to pump us up and help us get through difficult workouts. In this workout, choose 4 of your favorite pump-up songs – they should be between 3:30 and 4 minutes long and PUMP UP THE JAM!